How does PeerGFS handle permission conflicts during scans?
When PeerGFS scans and synchronizes folders and files across participants, it must reconcile permission differences to maintain consistency in a multi-site environment. When permission conflicts occur, resolution behavior is determined by several factors, including the Enhanced Metadata Conflict Resolution setting.
The following scenarios show how PeerGFS handles synchronization of permissions and possible permission conflicts during scans.
Key scenarios
Scenario 1: Item exists on only one participant
If a folder or file exists on just one participant, its permissions are synced to all other participants.
Scenario 2: Item exists on multiple participants with matching permissions
If the same folder or file exists on multiple participants and permissions are already identical, no conflict occurs.
PeerGFS continues without making any changes to the permissions of that item.
Scenario 3: Item exists on multiple participants with different permissions
When permissions of the same folder or file differ across multiple participants, PeerGFS applies conflict resolution rules based on whether Enhanced Metadata Conflict Resolution is enabled.
When a conflict can be resolved, PeerGFS selects one participant to take precedence. The item’s permissions of that participant are synced across all participants.
If Enhanced Metadata Conflict Resolution is enabled
PeerGFS ignores participants where the Agent service account owns the item.
If that resolves the conflict, the item’s permissions of the remaining participant are synced across all participants.
If a conflict still remains:
If the item exists on the Metadata Conflict Master Host, that participant takes precedence. The item’s permissions of that participant are synced across all participants.
If the item is a file and it does not exist on the Metadata Conflict Master Host, the participant where the file has the most recent last modified time takes precedence. The file’s permissions of that participant are synced across all participants.
If neither condition applies or the last modified time of the file matches across all participants, a participant is selected at random. The item’s permissions of that participant are synced across all participants.
If Enhanced Metadata Conflict Resolution is not enabled
If the item exists on the Metadata Conflict Master Host, that participant takes precedence. The item’s permissions of that participant are synced across all participants.
If the item is a file and it does not exist on the Metadata Conflict Master Host, the participant where the file has the most recent last modified time takes precedence. The file’s permissions of that participant are synced across all participants.
If neither condition applies or the last modified time of the file matches across all participants, a participant is selected at random. The item’s permissions of that participant are synced across all participants.